Integrated Calendar

Our ability to correctly diagnose and treat mental illness is limited by the overlap in symptoms of many disorders, despite differing etiology. Determining the proper course of treatment is quite difficult because treating individual symptoms does not always lead to successful remission and typically involves a trial-and-error approach. Task-based functional MRI has become a highly useful tool for determining the brain regions involved in cognition and behavior in humans, with the potential to be used to find biomarkers of mental illness and treatment outcomes. Much of the research in this domain has focused on the differences in brain activation between groups of individuals with specific mental disorders and typically developing “control” groups. However, by relating brain activation patterns of clinical groups to symptom severity, developmental processes, and response to treatment at the individual level, we can determine brain-based markers that have the potential to be used as diagnostic tools in the future and to determine whether certain treatments would be helpful based on specific brain activation patterns. In this talk, I will present data from studies using task-based functional MRI in autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, and childhood adversity that illustrate the potential of this technology for diagnostic and treatment purposes. I will also discuss the promises and limitations of using fMRI as a clinical tool.

It's been exactly 10 years since the Higgs Boson Discovery (July 4th, 2012). The Higgs Boson discovery is the biggest achievement of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, and one of the milestones of experimental Particle Physics. We will describe the road to the Higgs Boson discovery, its importance, and the status of the measurement of its properties since its discovery.

The second quantum revolution relies on our ability to control and measure individual quantum states in micro- and nanoscopic systems, such as atoms, ions, and quantum dots. The techniques resulting from this capability may lead to a considerable improvement in several sensing modalities, for example atomic clocks and the measurement of magnetic fields on the nanoscale.
As an example for a quantum sensor, and of course after introducing the underlying concepts of quantum sensing, I will present the nitrogen-vacancy defect, or color center, in diamond. First, I will explain how one can use it to measure magnetic and electric fields, temperature, strain and even pH levels. Then, I will try to show what the "quantum advantage" that is possible in this class of sensors and will give a few examples from research activities in our group. Finally, I will also discuss several industrial applications, some of which are already in use or in development around the world.

Early detection of recurrence and monitoring of Molecular Residual Disease (MRD) post-surgery is critical for clinical decision-making to tailor personalized treatments across solid cancers. C2i Genomics has developed an ultra-sensitive whole-genome ctDNA test, allowing extremely accurate and sensitive monitoring of patients with solid tumors. Here we present results from applying whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and identification of ctDNA across a variety of adult and pediatric solid tumors. We integrate a genome-wide mutation and copy number monitoring approach coupled with advanced signal processing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for measuring the tumor load from low-input blood samples (~1mL of plasma) with ultra-sensitive detection. The increased sensitivity allowed clinical detection of tumor fraction down to 5*10-5 and recurrence detection sensitivity achieving >65% at the first two months after definitive treatment, enabling earlier clinical intervention for high-risk patients.